Bill C-6 received royal assent on June 19, 2017 and eases many of the key eligibility requirements for citizenship, including the physical presence requirement and the requirement to demonstrate knowledge of Canada and its official languages. Bill C-6 also eliminates some of the more controversial elements of the Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act, including the ability to revoke the Canadian citizenship of dual nationals based on national security grounds.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (“CIC”) implemented its Express Entry system on January 1, 2015. Since that date, CIC has issued two rounds of Invitations to Apply (“ITAs”), which invite selected Express Entry applicants to submit applications for permanent residence. However, it only issued 779 ITAs during each round. In addition, it established a minimum Comprehensive Ranking Score of 886 for the first round and 818 for the second round. This ensured that only Express Entry applicants who had either arranged employment or a nomination under the Express Entry Stream of a Provincial Nomination Program could be considered.

The refugee determination process has been a hotly debated topic in Canadian immigration. These changes could affect the Canadian workforce, which has been experiencing a shortage of skilled labour in a number of provinces. It is too early to say whether these change will be a good move or a bad one for Canada, but it is evident that Canada will be accepting more refugees than ever before.

The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration recently issued a fourth set of Ministerial Instructions (MI-4), which came into force on November 5, 2011. According to MI-4, the Federal Skilled Worker program will now have a new eligibility stream for international students pursuing doctoral (PhD) studies at Canadian institutions. This adds an additional 1,000 numbers to the current cap of 10,000, which are available to FSW applicants who do not have arranged employment.

The Ontario Bar Association Citizenship and Immigration Section recently met with representatives of Opportunities Ontario, the province’s Provincial Nominee Program (“PNP”). During this meeting, they provided insight into the level of recruitment activities that would be expected from an employer who files a PNP application on behalf of a prospective employee.